I can believe I’m in grad school again. Yep, you read it right. I can believe I’m in grad school again. I always knew I’d make it back here. Wasn’t sure of the how, the what, or the when, but I’ve always been keen on the why.

I’m not getting any younger.

I’m 29. Next month, I’ll be 30. I’m 30. At this age, I should be settling into my career, making moves, earning promotions, branding myself, etc. In actuality, what I’m doing is pretending I’m 22 with a fresh bachelor degree, pursuing my dreams of becoming whoever it is I’ve decided to become. While the ambition of a naive, not yet tested 22 year-old is admirable, it’s also not my reality. Because I’m not 22 and my degree definitely has a few cobwebs since my current position doesn’t even require one. I mean, it’s highly recommended and to my knowledge, everyone in my office has one, but it’s not required. At 22, I wouldn’t have minded doing this and working my way through the “steps” to achieve career success in this field. At 30, I’m over it. View Post

A new year is upon us. Now is usually the time when everyone starts making plans, creating goals, and coming up with their word of the year. To this, I am no exception and I’ve been planning, coming up with goals, and focusing on what word I want to guide me through 2018.

Back when I first started doing this word of the year thing, I did what I always do when faced with something I’ve never encountered before. I asked around. “What’s your word?” became an actual question I would ask people who didn’t look at me crazy when I mentioned having a word of the year. I also researched. Thesaurus.com was my jam and I’d search words that were of interest to me and then look up their more sophisticated sounding synonyms because, you know…extra.

Last year was the first year I actually just practiced being open to receiving the word. Not The Word, but the word. I didn’t seek out any help from others. I didn’t do twenty million worksheets to help determine the word for me. Thesaurus.com wasn’t opened once, and I didn’t feel the overwhelming pressure to check in with everybody else who’d chosen a word of the year. For the first time, I let the word choose me. View Post

As an adult, I find that there are so many reasons to shop at Aldi. When I was younger, though, I hated shopping there. Like, HATED IT. I always felt so embarrassed to be walking along with my mother as she popped a quarter in the stall to retrieve her buggy, and then utterly mortified when she made me choose between “Fruit Rounds” and the “Frosted Flakes” with the polar bear on the box. It was just too much for my 15 year-old brain to process. Like, why do we have to pay to have a shopping cart? Does this store really not give you bags for free? Ma, please tell me you’re seriously putting our groceries in an old box because you’re refusing to pay for 60 cent for 6 bags?

The struggle was real.

Now that I’m an adult, though, I’m not sure how I ever fixed my mouth to complain about such a treasure. Aldi is the truth. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Shopping at Aldi has become one of my favorite things to do. View Post

I’ve learned so many lessons from parenting a strong-willed child. Most have been by mistake or through trial and error, but they were lessons learned nonetheless. Like the time, after I cut my hair, that I told J I had an important meeting that day and needed to hurry home to get ready. “Okay Mommy. Well, have a good day,” she yelled as she exited the backseat, “And don’t forget to put your weave on before your meeting.”

:::Insert me dying of both laughter and shame as I drove away:::

Aside from “be sure to tell them what’s appropriate to say and when,” here are a few other lessons I’ve learned from parenting a strong-willed child. View Post

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2017 is past the halfway point. Can you believe it? If the weather wasn’t so nice, I’d swear January was just last month! This year is zooming by and creating so many lasting lessons, memories, and experiences in its wake, I can’t help but be grateful.

When this year started off, I was optimistic but skeptical. Like many people, I had some goals I wanted to accomplish, some things I wanted to do, but I have those every year. And every year is usually like the one before…a swing and a miss. Plans undone, goals unaccomplished, and self-doubt growing larger and larger. So when I say I was optimistic but skeptical, I really mean it.

Things have been different in 2017, though. I have been different in 2017. First, I changed my mindset. I decided to stop fighting the same battles, stop having the same arguments, and stop doing the same things that were keeping me stuck. Secondly, I decided to try. Try new things, try old things that I’d forgotten about, try new people, etc. And wouldn’t you know, it worked and gave me some of the best times! View Post